The Fallen Angel
by ClasslessToast
Summary: Floating above the planet is a small space station that holds not only a key to the mystery of the past, but also holds one of the secrets that Kamina left behind. Chapter 4 is now up! Please review if you like, or dislike, this story! Rated T just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

Simon sighed as he looked into the beautiful sun setting far in the distance. His shadow morphed against Lagann standing motionless and inactive. Watching the sun after Kamina died was a way that Simon could remember his brother. It had been a few weeks after his death; he had met Nia only a few days ago. Simon usually sat on the highest part of Dai-Gunzan and thought of his bro. 'Bro...' he thought to himself, 'we really miss you...'

"What are you doing up here alone?" A young and curious voice chimed from behind Simon. He turned his head and his body slightly to see Nia with a small plate of food in her hands. A small smile crossed Simon's face; "I brought you dinner!"

Simon took the plate and sat it on his lap. Picking up a piece of food and chewing it, Nia sat down next to him and watched the sun lower with him. She enjoyed watching the sun set, but not exactly as Simon did. After finishing the food on the plate, Simon placed the china next to him and turned to Nia. With a smile, he thanked her. "You are welcome, Simon!" She replied to his thanking. After a moment of silence, Nia's expression on her face lowered to a sad look. She was thinking of how to ask Simon the question that had been on her mind for a while.

"Simon," she began slowly, "what was this Bro character like?" Simon looked at her with a slightly puzzled look, then returned his gaze to the sunset; "Bro was a strong and powerful guy who stopped at nothing to defend Team Gurren. Bro protected me and made me see my full potential when it came to being... well... myself. He motivated me to give one hundred and ten percent. Bro was like the true brother I never had."

Nia looked as Simon fixated his gaze in a downward angle with a look of depression filling his face. His hair began to wave in the light breeze that passed over the two. The digger didn't like talking about Kamina as much as he should. After all, Kamina was his idol and his protector. But the thought of his death always caused Simon to feel down and weak. Nia wrapped her arm around Simon and hugged him softly. She felt the pain Kamina's death brought Simon, and she always tried to avoid bringing the bad memories back. Her short light blue/pale blonde hair brushed against Simon's cheek, causing him to blush a little, but he placed a hand on her shoulder and continued to stare out to the sunset. Unaware of her presence, Yoko stood behind the two awkwardly watching the young couple. She had originally came to ask Simon an important question, but decided to keep quiet. After a brief silence, Yoko approached the two with "Simon, can I talk to you?"

They both turned to look at Yoko who shifted her wait to the right. Simon looked at her with a blank, yet curious look. "Yeah, what's up?" Yoko looked to Nia, who smiled to Yoko. A look of innocence covered her face.

"Do you want to just talk to Simon?" Nia asked in a curious tone.

"Yes, that would be appreciated." Nia nodded to Yoko and turned to Simon.

"I'll be in the kitchen when you are done." She smiled and stood up slowly. After taking one last look at the sunset, she walked down the stairs and headed to the kitchen. After she had left, Yoko sat down next to Simon where Nia was sitting. Simon watched as the shadows casted by the mountains grew larger. Yoko eyed him with a serious look, but couldn't help but feel sorry for him. A slight look of depression covered her face as she tried to think of the words to say. She sighed and looked at the sunset. "So what did you want to ask, Yoko?"

"I wanted to ask you about... about Nia." A look of confusion covered Simon's face. "What do you mean?"

Yoko blushed as she thought carefully about her words. "Well, you are always around her and she always believes you in particular will be there. It makes me wonder if, if you and her have a thing going on."

Simon looked at her with an odd look, then thought about why she would ask something like that. He sighed. "I don't really know how to answer that, nor do I feel comfortable answering that." Yoko frowned and nodded her head. She then nudged him playfully and got to her feet. "Remember, we have a training session tomorrow!"

As she walked away, Simon chuckled "How can I forget something I organized?" He returned his gaze to the sunset and thought of why Yoko would ask that. 'What did she mean by a thing?' He shook it off and began walking down the stairs to the kitchen to meet Nia.

**LUNAR ORBIT**

Objects floated randomly about a dark room with light from the an air-tight window flooding in that revealed inactive technology and a blank white screen with a single icon that appeared to be a human-shaped figure with a heart monitor and a brainwaves monitor. In the shadows was a pod with a strange shape hanging over an airlock door. A timer on the wall in red numbers showed only 30 seconds until it reached 24 hours. When the clock stopped on 24, a red light began to flash. A moment later, the airlock door above the pod opened, causing all the air and floating objects floating to be sucked into space. The pod released and a set of boosters ignited sending the pod out of the room and speeding towards the planet below. As the pod hit the atmosphere, it caught flame and sped even faster to the planet. The brainwaves monitor began to speed up almost threefold what is was originally reading. Almost five minutes later, the pod crashed into the hard crust of the planet, causing the earth to rise in a huge cloud of dust and fragments of crust.

Leeron caught notice of this occurrence in Dai-Gunzan's monitor and control room. Rubbing his chin, he turns to the others and says in a concerned voice "You may want to come look at this." As everyone crowds around, the radar began to flash a red dot in the lower left corner. "What could it be...?" Leeron mumbled to himself. "Whatever it is, it had a hard landing." Kittan said aloud. They surrounded the radar and studied it until Yoko walked in. "What is everyone looking at?"

They all turned to her and told her about the huge splash radius the object created. She looked at the monitor for a moment and began to walk out of the control room; "I'll get Simon and we will go check it out." The door closed behind her. Leeron turned back to the monitor and thought about the it for a moment. "What is it...?"


	2. Chapter 2

***Quick Note* Forgive me if I have named anything wrong in this or the last chapter. I am rather new to this anime, but I know enough to say I love it. Again, I am sorry for any errors I have made. Enjoy Chapter 2!**

Simon was sitting at the table nearest to the kitchen doors in the mess hall. Nia opened the door with a plate full of food for the rest of the crew. They all stared at the food in horror and disgust. Rossiu fainted at the thought of what happened last time. Nia's smile turned to a confused frown as she placed the plate on the table the Simon sat at. "Is it that bad?" They nodded and almost threw up. A large frown came over Nia's confused look as Simon put a hand on her shoulder. "I think it is great, Nia." She giggled and hugged Simon as he and Boota began to dig in. Shortly after they started eating, Yoko walked in and came next to Simon. "Let's go, Simon!"

She grabbed him by the ear and tugged him away from the table and out the door. When they reached the top deck, Gurren Lagann was already prepped and ready to go. Boota sat on Simon's shoulder and gave him a nod of readiness. Yoko climbed inside Gurren's cockpit as Simon was climbing towards Lagann's. "So what are we doing exactly?" An image popped up as the canopy closed on Lagann; it was Leeron.

"You and Yoko are going to be checking out a weird occurrence just a little ways away from here." Leeron informed Simon. An image of Yoko appeared opposite Leeron's. "Something crash landed into the earth and caused a huge dust cloud."

Simon looked off in the distance to see the remainder of dust and particles in the air as the object started to cool down from the heat it experienced as it penetrated the atmosphere. He thought to himself for a moment, feeling weird as to what it could be. It didn't move as if it were made of stone, yet it was the size of a gunman. Simon shook his head and pushed past his thoughts of what it could be. Soon after, Gurren Lagann sped off the deck and ran to the place of impact.

An image of Yoko appeared once again; a serious look on her face. "What do you think it is, Simon?" He shrugged his shoulders: "Could be anything to be honest." Yoko thought to herself for a moment. '_Anything...'_

The door of the pod blew off and landed nearby. A figure stepped out of the metal meteor. It reached inside the pod and grabbed a rifle of sorts, checking the clip for ammunition and replacing the full clip in the receiver. It stepped back an inch, then looked down the barrel to see if the sights were smashed. It's light blue hair began to wave in the wind as it's red eyes scanned the weapon for any other damage. As they watched from a distance, Yoko gasped. "Is that...?" Simon was as surprised as she was, but canceled the thought of it being Kamina: "It can't be!" As Gurren Laggan approached the familiar man, he quickly turned and threw a canister towards them. A huge cloud of smoke surrounded them as the pod and the man seemed to disappear in the thick fog. Simon was caught off guard as he looked around for him. Suddenly, the man flew from the smoke onto the canopy of Laggan, smashing it in with the butt of his gun. Gurren Laggan slapped him off, ending the man through the clearing smoke and onto the hard and crusty earth.

"Who the hell are you?!" Yoko questioned him. He stood, a smirk on his face. "_Me_? I am Hibiki, or ECHO if you please," he boasted "Fighter of Jeeha Village, brother of the great Kamina!"

Yoko and Simon stared at him in shock as a confused look over came ECHO's pride; "Um... Hello? Anyone in there?" Yoko fainted, leaving Simon alone. Gurren Laggan started to rub the back of Laggan's head; "You wouldn't by chance know who Simon the Digger is, do you?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Know him? Heck, I was the first babysitter! Kamina took him in after his parents died. Say, why do you need to know?" Laggan's canopy opened, revealing a curious digger. After crawling down, he walked up to the 6 foot man. He stared up to him, curiosity and wonder filling his gaze. "You're... You're Kamina's brother?" He nodded. "Well prove it."

"Look Simon, I don't mind your curiosity, but I must ask, where is my little bro? I haven't seen him in almost years!"

Not only had he been surprised he knew who he was, but heartache struck Simon as he recalled what happened to Kamina. Simon sighed as he turned back to the combined mechas; "Come with me, I'll tell you when we get to Dai-Gurren."

While in the mess hall, Simon explains to Echo what happened to his brother. A long frown covered his face. "I can't believe he died." Simon lowered his head in sadness as Nia approached with a small plate of food for Echo; "I thought you were hungry, so I made you this." He looked at the plate, then thanked her. Kittan, Dayakka, etc. all lunged towards him before he took a bite; "No!" They all hovered over him. He dropped the piece of food in his mouth and began to chew. Fear covered their faces as he swallowed and began to eat more. They sighed as he finished the plate and moved it to the side. Simon stared him down from across the table; "So what were you doing in that pod thing."

He shrugged his shoulders. "After dad died, I wandered the desert aimlessly, dodging encounters with gunmen, until I found this village on the surface. I think they called it Minpei, I can't remember. Anyways, they told me that I was healthy enough to enlist into their armed forces. I did and I was sent to this station out in space. I was told that I needed to be 'put to sleep' for the travel. And that's about all I can recall." Yoko walked in and slammed her fists on the table; "So you let a group of militia men do whatever they wanted to you? You are as dumb as Kamina!" A slight smile crossed his face.

"Aren't you a feisty one?" She blushed then left the room. He looked to Simon with confusion. "What was that all about?" He thought back to what he saw before they attacked Dai-Gurren; "I don't know."


	3. Chapter 3

Later that night, Simon couldn't seem to sleep as the thought of Echo being Kamina's brother raced through his mind. 'Why didn't Bro ever want to tell us about Echo? Is there something wrong with him?'

Without noticing until this point, Nia had walked into the room and sat down on a chair next to the bed. In the darkness, Simon could see Nia with a small smile on her face. He felt the blood run to the surface as he noticed that Nia was in her nightgown with a small stuffed bear in her arms. She yawned and smiled sleepily at Simon; "I had what you call a nightmare." Simon was confused as his thoughts went blank for a moment. Nia slowly rose and approached Simon, still holding the bear in her arms. She sat on the bed next to him, laying her head down on the edge of Simon's pillow and curling up slightly with the bear held close to her. She was facing Simon when he began to breath oddly, causing Nia to look up at him. "Is this not the proper way to get rid of a nightmare?"

After a moment, a slight smile crossed Simon's face. His cheeks were cherry red, but appeared dim in the darkness of the room. He covered Nia's body up to her shoulders with the cover and watched as she smiled. Slowly drifting to sleep, Simon felt butterflies in his stomach as he dreamed warm and happy dreams.

The alarm clock beeped loudly, causing the awakening of the couple still in bed. Simon reached up to his headboard and hit the snooze button on the alarm. With a yawn, Nia stretched and looked into Simon's eyes; a smile crossed her face. Simon, after turning the light on by flipping the switch next to the bed, noticed the sparkling of Nia's eyes. They both blushed as they stared at one another. Suddenly, the door opened. Behind the door, caught off guard by the sight of the two, was Yoko. A look of surprise and confusion filled her gaze as they blushed even more. "Wha...What is going on here?!" Nia smiled awkwardly as Simon crawled out from the covers and stood next to the bed, trying to make the scene look a little less suspicious. Yoko looked at Simon with a deadly stare: "Why was she in _your _bed Simon?" He played off am innocent smile, rubbing the back of his head, nervously chuckling. "Oh her? Well, she was... Sick! She was sick and I told her to sleep in my bed so I could watch after her and yeah."

"Sick, huh? How come her gown strap is pulled down over her shoulder?" Simon turned to look, knowing that it wasn't. But as Yoko said, it was down, revealing Nia's bra strap. The color in Simon's face drained to a pale white as he looked at her with confusion and shock. She shrugged and smiled at Simon. "I thought we were going to get dressed _together_. Simon almost fainted as Yoko began to walk out of the room. "Just come get some breakfast when you are done Simon."

"Nia, why did you pull your strap down?" She blushed, the smile still on her face; "I thought you wanted me to get dressed, Simon."

After about an hour or so, Simon and Nia entered the mess hall with the smell of bacon and coffee making their stomachs growl. After getting their food, they sat down at a table. Yoko, opposite of Simon, looked at him strangely. She shook her head and took her leftovers to the trashcan. "What?" Simon asked without a response. Dayakka, next to Simon and Nia, looked at him. "She has been like that all morning, after she went to go get you and Nia. She must have seen you two doing something. What was it?" Simon blushed as he frowned at Dayakka; "We didn't do anything." He chuckled, then took a sip of his coffee. The ice inside it rattled around in the cup causing a clinging noise. "Young couple jumping two spaces forward, huh?" Simon shoved him lightly as Dayakka began to laugh loudly. Nia smiled at Simon, catching his attention. "Two spaces forward..."

Simon was on his way to Lagann, waiting powerlessly on the top deck, when Yoko cut him off unexpectedly. Simon looked at her nervously as she looked down at him. He tried to move to the side, but Yoko was blocking him. "So, Simon, are you and Nia _there _in your relationship?" He didn't know what to say, let alone how to feel towards the question. Then the thought came into Simon's mind 'Where is Echo?' He noticed that he hadn't seen him all morning. "Uh Yoko, where is Echo?" She ignored his question and hugged him, her breasts pressed in his face. He was shocked, his face blushing as she held him tight. A small tear built up in Yoko's eye as she thought of what she used to feel towards Simon. The tear ran down her cheek and fell to the deck of Dai-Gurren. After she sniffled a little, she walked away, her hair brushing against Simon. He stood, dumbfounded by what just happened. He tried to think of why she would do such a thing, then walk away. Then the thought crossed his mind;

'Is she jealous?'

After shaking it off, Simon continued to Lagann and climbed inside. After turning Lagann on, he walked into the mech bay and looked for Leeron. After searching for a good five minutes, Simon found Rossiu reading a book he had found on Dai-Gurren. "Hey Rossiu, have you seen Leeron? He was supposed to work on the reaction time of Gurren today." Rossiu looked up from his book and looked at Simon. "Yes, but Leeron is ill from a little virus he picked up a few days ago. He can't work today and possibly tomorrow." Simon sighed. "Well, do you want to take Gurren for a little spin?"

Rossiu smiled and folded the corner of the page he was on. Setting the book down on the bench, he walked alongside Lagann towards Gurren. After entering Gurren and the hatch shutting, the two quickly combined and hopped off Dai-Gurren, who stood motionless. Yoko watched as the two ran around, laughing and joking as friends would do. She frowned as a tear fell from her cheek. 'Echo has run away, Kamina is dead, and you Simon, you don't even care about me anymore.' She walked slowly away, trying to push her feelings towards Simon away. She felt a hand on her shoulder, freezing her in her tracks. Echo's voice calmed her nerves; "Why the long face?"

She sighed and wiped her tears away with her arm. "Nothing." He rubbed her shoulder and smiled. "Then there is no reason to be sad." She nodded and, with a sniffle, walked away. Echo watched as she descended into the hull of Dai-Gurren. He turned his gaze to Simon and Rossiu, who were messing around as Gurren and Lagann separated. A smile crossed his face as he thought of his little brother. 'I miss ya, little bro...' With one final look at the two, he descended into Dai-Gurren as Yoko had, but a smile of remembrance on his face.

'...Kamina...'


	4. Chapter 4

"So where were you last night?" Dayakka sat across from Echo, who gulped down his cooled coffee and took a bite of a biscuit. Everyone seemed to hover over him, curious as to where he was. After he had swallowed the food, he looked over to the cook. "Can I get more biscuits ova here?" The cook looked at him with a look of confusion, as Echo had already scarfed down 12 of them. He shook his head; "Out of biscuits." Echo smirked at the cook, turning back to his coffee, he muttered something under his breath. Dayakka kept his serious gaze on him as he answered:

Well, I went on a little patrol just to see this place. It was odd, to see that many mountains in such an area, but I must digress. I scouted out the area we are to be heading, and I don't think we should continue our course. 'Bout 30 Elite Gunmen over there..."

"Elite Gunmen?" Simon cut him off as he entered the room with Rossiu. They looked at Echo. Simon was a bit surprised that he had returned. Echo chuckled. "You see Simon, an Elite Gunman is an _Elite Gunman_. They are better, faster, stronger Gunmen that stop at nothing but the complete annihilation of the said target." Kittan looked at him intensly. "So you are saying there is a type of Gunman better than they are now? What a joke."

"Well, if that's the way you see it, sure. But I see it as an opportunity to rest until they pass by. They really have no way to spot us _and _if we do get spotted, we can protect ourselves and they wont be able to attack with a counter assault." Simon nodded. "He has a point. If we avoid a battle, we will be just fine. If we attack, it will only weaken our strength." Kittan snickered. He wasn't sure if he could trust a guy who fell from the sky, but he had to at least give the man a chance. "Whatever you say..." A devious smile crossed Echo's face. He could tell Kittan didn't trust him. 'His weak spot...'

The sun was high in the sky when Echo, Simon, and Nia reached a small hill on the ground. Lugged over their shoulders were shovels and pickaxes. Echo turned to Simon. He was sweating and exhausted from the walk over to that small hill. Nia, on the other hand, was smiling. Echo studied the two, then smiled as Simon flung the shovel off his shoulder and into his hands. "So where do we start digging, exactly?" Echo pointed at the small hill. "I was watching the scanner when a blimp appeared on this hill... right... here." He had moved up the slope slightly and planted his foot in the soft dirt. Simon thought to himself what it was that caused the blimp to appear. He shook it off and turned to where Nia was. "If you want, you can..." She wasn't there. He looked around frantically until he heard her laughing. He turned to where the sound was coming, and saw Nia swinging the pickaxe above her head and busting the dirt and rock into pieces. A smile crossed his face as he watched her work. 'She's one crazy girl.' His smile grew wider as he approached her and began to shovel the dirt and rock away.

After a few minutes, Nia's pick struck a piece of metal, causing a ringing noise to echo in the air. Simon and Echo turned to their surprise that they had found something. They were about 3 feet deep when Simon began to dust the dirt and soil away from atop the metal object with his hands. A look of surprise covered their faces as a red lens was uncovered. They continued to dig around the lens until they had revealed a hatch that was dented in. Simon took Nia's pick and wrenched it open. The hatch popped open easily. Echo patted Simon on the back; "Good job, Simon. I think we have found an _antique_." Simon looked at him oddly, then checked on Nia, who smiled at him. He smiled back and entered the hatch. Climbing down the ladder, he looked around the lightly light area. He studied the space carefully.

The upper most section seemed circular as a receiver of sorts for a weapon pocked out of the circular build. A viewing port was to the right of it, but through the viewing scope was darkness. In the lower level, a seat in the front had a viewport, but the outside was covered in dirt and rock. To the right was a row of explosive rounds that were kept upright by a holder. Simon noticed the Rear section of the lower level was smashed downward, like it was hit by extreme force. The wreckage then lead Simon's eyes to a body lying on the floor of the lower level with a pistol in it's hand. Caught off guard by the sight, Simon stumbled backwards, running into Echo, who smiled at the sight of the lower level. "I've only seen these things in books, but not in real life." Simon looked at him with confusion. "What exactly is _these?" _

"They are called tanks. Means of transport with a weapon, of different shapes an forms, attached to the vehicle. Typically, tanks had tracks, I believe, that allowed for ease of transportation. Humans used these babies like they were elite soldiers." He patted the inside hull, causing a ringing. "But it looks like it's last service run ended badly." He studied the engine, and then the body on the floor. He sighed as he opened a compartment on the wall. He pulled out a box with the red letters CLASSIFIED stamped on the side. "Come on, Simon, lets get this to Dai-Gurren for analyzing. Simon nodded, taking one last look at the body. 'Judging by his face, he was only 16 or so.'

Leeron looked at the device Echo had brought him with complete awe. "Is this a 20th century militaristic black box?" Echo nodded. "I've only seen them in books!" Leeron hooked up a cord to the box, and turned his gaze to the appropriate monitor. The screen was full of green letters and symbols that seemed to make a pattern. Leeron hummed for a moment then an option to view the files came up. He clicked yes, causing the screen to turn blank, and then to a window of times the vehicle was active. He selected the very last entry: November 14th. The year was blanked out by a black line. Echo hummed as the file opened, showing several view windows. One of the driver's view, the gunner's view, the machinegun's view, and the rear view. The tank was rolling across a desert. Alongside several other tanks, they were heading towards what looked like Gunmen in the distance. The gun of the tank elevated, firing a round yards away, and exploding against a Gunman.

Falling over, the others took notice and began running towards the vehicles. The other tanks began to fire, and broke formation. A few Gunmen landed on some of the tanks, causing explosions. The tank in question began to circle around a Gunman, firing a round into the teeth and killing the pilot. The machinegun over heated from firing so many bullets. Suddenly, a large stone landed in front of the tank, forcing the driver to stop. Before it could reverse, a Gunman's fist smashed the rear of the tank, causing the engine to fail and the tank rendered useless. The crew escaped through the hatch before the Gunman pulled it's fist out of the wreckage. The machinegun camera was still functioning, as it captured humans in heavy armor running up to the mecha and firing their assault rifles at it. Suddenly, the camera cut out, and the file was finished. Everyone around the monitor were stunned at the sight of what had happened.

Leeron disconnected the cord from the device, and sat it to the side. "Well kiddies, that's enough story time for now. Lets all get some sleep and watch more in the morning."

That night, Simon couldn't sleep. He thought of what had happened to the men fighting in that battle with the beastmen. Nia took notice of this, as she turned to face him. "What's wrong, Simon?" He looked deep into her eyes, with no answer to her question.


End file.
